What lies ahead for IT in 2017

The world of IT is changing as we know it. From the booming cloud market and rise of software-defined networks, to IoT and enhanced cybersecurity threats, businesses are at a crossroads. Enterprises can either stand still and be left behind, or choose to see the writing on the wall and move forward with innovation as their guiding principle. And though 2016 brought significant change to the IT landscape, there's no sign of it slowing down this year. Based on insights from customers, partners, industry analysts, and insiders, our team at ExtraHop offers the following forecasts for IT in 2017.

The Rise of DDoS Attacks for Ransom

2017 will be the year we see the first effective DDoSransoms. Ransomware is one of the fastest growing threats facing companies today with more than 4,000 attacks daily in 2016. We already have mirai source code and we know ransomware is big business. DDoS ransomware will grow stronger and more effective at knocking out individual entities. Enterprises will need to equip themselves to not only thwart against these attacks, but anticipate and detect them earlier.

IT Demands Situational Awareness

IT monitoring is no longer just about performance. Simply delivering information about what's up, what's down, and who's talking isn't enough. In 2017, we expect to see significant market demand for platforms that can deliver broad and deep situational awareness for performance, availability, and security across the whole IT environment. This will require an ability to intelligently understand and evolve with the environment, as well as surface anomalies quickly.

IT Gets BI Savvy

IT has infiltrated almost every facet of business, and in 2017, expect to see the tables turn as IT teams start to use BI tools for operational intelligence. Although support for time-series data is still somewhat lacking, BI tools are getting better and better. As the lines blur between IT and business processes, the inevitable commingling of IT and business data will push the organization to adopt common tools for data exploration and analysis.

Selling the Digital Experience

Technology is no longer how we sell, it's what we sell. This is true not only for hardware and software vendors, but for businesses across all verticals who are selling not just a product, but an accompanying digital experience. Research shows that IT professionals are increasingly viewed as the drivers of innovation in the enterprise. Because of this, IT will be shoved out of the back office and into the front office as companies look to increase top-line and bottom-line revenue, integrate systems, and mitigate risk.

"Dev" Takes Over DevOps

Convergence of IT operations and DevOps will accelerate in 2017 as the ownership of traditional IT operations functions -- maintenance, performance, availability -- come within the purview of those who developed those systems in the first place. Rapid development and release cycles made possible with PaaS and IaaS offerings will only increase the demand for a single team to manage the entire application lifecycle from development to production.

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About the Author

John Matthews is the Chief Information Officer at ExtraHop Networks, where he oversees the continuous expansion of the ExtraHop IT environment and counsels the company's enterprise customers as they evolve their IT operations. Before joining ExtraHop, John led IT strategy at F5 Networks, where he was CIO for nearly a decade. While at F5, John provided strategic technology and management assessments, as well as a common-sense approach to IT operations that provided the best capabilities to the business with the least risk. John guided F5 to the early adoption of new technologies, such as SaaS and cloud computing, to drive costs down while raising overall quality. Previously, John served as an IT leader for MSN Operations at Microsoft, as CIO at Towne Exploration Company, and as Director of IT Operations at Adobe.